Reviews by Ted:

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Appearance  This limited release stout poured a dark brown in color with some nice ruby highlights and a modest head that showed good retention.

Smell  Oh, does this smell good. The roasted malts are very dark and form a solid base for this stout. The cappuccino aroma is solid espresso and creamy milk. Somebodys already added some raw sugar to this one as well. Overall the bouquet is very big and open.

Taste  Wow, this tastes actually bigger than it smells. The cappuccino flavors are enormous here. Add to that the big, roasty malt base and you have one helluva stout. I can pick up some complex fruity notes as well.

Mouthfeel  This one is almost full in the body. It is thick, thick, thick, and give a really hard core bitter coffee flavor on the back of the tongue.

Drinkability  If you live in Seattle and go to Starbucks three times a day like a lot of us do, this is the stout for you.

Its great to see more and more Lagunitas brews showing up here in wny,poured a deep but not pitch black there was ruby highlights shown thru out when held up to the light a well formed one finger mocha colored head atop.Big espresso roast coffee aromas and dry unsweetened chocolate lingers,roasted to the hilt flavors somewhat earthy in the finish but the coffee flavors really steal the show.A light earthiness in the finish rounds out the beer nicely,if you like big roasted uncompremising stouts this is for you and with the alcohol very well hidden it goes down easily.

Pours a deep brown color, murky and swampy with some light shining through around all of the edges. Seemingly low carbonation with a little, light-tan head that leaves minimal lacing at best. Aroma is full of some boozy chocolate; the alcoholic character comes off as bourbon-like. Creamy vanilla notes in the background, along with more cocoa dust and maybe even oak chips. Taste is, as expected, very chocolatey and oaky; woody and vanilla notes throughout. Some deep espresso comes out about halfway through and hits heavy against the roof of my mouth - bitter and dark. The cocoa powder flavor takes on a bittersweet character and that entwines with the light floral profile of the beer - very light and ashy hops hide in the background. As it gets warmer, the booze gets stronger and the woody notes become more defined. It's funny, this almost takes on a bourbon barrel aged flavor profile, even though it's not. Medium-thick mouth feel, slightly syrupy and a touch sticky; very low carbonation.

Overall, not as good as I was expecting, perhaps my expectations for Lagunitas have been put up too high based on their other brews. Still a very solid stout, but I would've liked more of a heavy coffee flavor and maybe less of a bourbon burn.

To set the table, I love this brewery and style of brew. I will be biased high in my review. I wish this stuff came in 6-packs and was readily available.

Poured from a 22oz bomber into an English pint glass. Released a nice brown head that settled pretty quickly into a rocky foam. Nose consists of sweet malt with some dark notes of chocolate and coffee. Some raisin notes with dark currant and bread present later.

The sweetness promised in the aroma and by the OG (stated on the bottle) is just not present. There is a definite coffee flavor in the malt with chocolate notes, but the supporting sweetness expected in the malt fails to appear, leaving a slight bitter flavor sensation but for my taste that's perfect.

Finish is long coffee and alcohol dominate the malt that is present. Hop bitter is there and balances along with bitter coffee and chocolate. Really its balanced but not necessarily with hop. Kinda cool. The lack of malt sweetness lessens the need for a heavy bitter and this beer actually responds to that need with a nice complex but mild bitter from multiple sources.

A vigorous pour down the center on the glass produced just a small layer of bubble head which quickly dissipated to a small ring of bubbles. It poured a very dark brown with a brilliant ruby color shining through the edges.

It smelled of sweetened coffee with some powdered chocolate notes. Not nearly as strong as many of the other coffee stouts I have had.

The taste has a distinct roasty coffee flavor but it is noticeably lacking any of the bitterness which makes other coffee stouts come across a little harsh. It also is completely neutral in flavor on the backside which is interesting. Once again many other coffee stouts leave a bitter coffee taste through the whole thing but this one is only on the front end. I like that a lot but I only wish the coffee taste was a little stronger.

Mouthfeel is great. Not nearly as sweet as many others of a similar gravity in the style. It shows no hint of the 9+% ABV. The neutral flavored back end makes this beer insanely drinkable.

Dark brown to black, very little opacity, with a thin tan head that went to a ring relatively quickly. Surprising lace for such a thin head.

Aromas were strong on coffee with secondary chocolate, as you would probably suspect with the name.

Flavors were clearly coffee and chocolate, but with less intensity than the aromas suggest. The lighter carbonation tends to lend to a slightly heavier mouthfeel but that isn't necessarily bad. There must be something in here that brings it to some semblance of balance, but I can't figure it out. Finish is slightly bitter, but seemingly from the coffee malts, nothing hoppy that I could denote.

Overall, I enjoyed this pint. It's a solid stout and basically lives up to it's name. Good stuff.

Thick crowning of tan head with rings of lace on the glass; the brew is a shade away from pitch black. Soft espresso coffee bean notes, with blackberries and blood oranges in the nose. Thick chewy body, super smooth. Hints of chocolate, charcoal, creamy vanilla and espresso beans. Maltiness plays off of the hops even with all of the roasted chaos. Alcohol warms a bit middle to end; aftertaste is more of the espresso and high-alcohol Stout flavor.

Solid, but how can a big beer like this be so drinkable? Coffee Stouts have been all the rage over the past year, though Lagunitas was ahead of the times and near the head of the pack.

I was really looking foreward to this beer since I have been a big lagunitas fan in the past, but it turned out just average at best. The beer poured a very dark brown with a good tan head that settled into a thin layer of foam. The smell was not strong at all, with faint hints of coffee and roasted malts.
The taste was a let down as well with a hint of coffee, a nice kick of roasted malts and a slight woody flavor, but not nearly the flavor I would expect from a beer brewed with "hard core coffee".

From notes. 22oz bomber pours a deep dark brown color with ruby highlights and a nice half inch of tan head on top of the brew. Aromas begin with nice roasted malts met by a dark burnt coffee aroma and notes of chocolate. A touch smoky with only a hint of hops. Nice stuff.

First sip brings a nice roasty dark malt profile that moves into a rush of burnt, roasted coffee and chocolate flavors. Smooth and somewhat smoky as well. Finishes with some hops and a nice sweetness on the end. All in all a tasty brew.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied with good carbonation. I could see drinking this beer again with no problem at all. A solid coffee stout that doesn't fail to deliver. Easily one of my favorite Lagunitas brews so far and I look forward to having it again.